Dismissal the Wal-Mart way

Julie Roehm got a call from her boss’s assistant at 12:15 p.m. on Dec. 4. J. John Fleming, then chief of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.‘s marketing department, wanted a word with his senior vice-president. Walking to Fleming’s office at the Bentonville (Ark.) headquarters, Roehm recalls thinking she was about to be fired. She was right. Ten months after being recruited to help modernize Wal-Mart’s tired brand, Roehm was out.